Friday, July 3, 2015

Recycle Fruit and Opened Bottles of Wine into Sangria in time for the Fourth!

God Bless America!

I think the title says it all, right?

I consider Food Recycling - is that a thing? - one of my special talents.

We are so blessed to live in a country with access to so many different cultures. The more, the merrier, the food, the spices!

It grants me opportunities to recycle food in the most surprising ways!

Food waste is a shame in our world, so I strive not to waste food, and I truly feel guilty when I can't use up my food in time before it goes bad. For the most part, I think I have a good system in place, with buying as we go, freezing and carefully choosing items for storage.

If you, my lovelies, have been paying attention, I freeze fruit, before it goes bad. Frozen fruit can be made into fruit vinegar, desserts and smoothies. I also love to drink wine. On the rare occasion, I cannot finish a bottle in a week, I either use it for making vinegar or cook with it. When I have some of both, I shall make sangria!

My frozen apple, waiting to be put to good use.

Sangria is a fruit and wine concoction which originated in Spain and Portugal. Recently, following in the footsteps of France, it has been decreed by European law, that anything called Sangria can only be made and bottled in Spain and Portugal.

View from our Living Room - we are so blessed!

With respect to that decree, I will modestly title this "sangria" with a small "s". That makes it more of an adjective, than the Sangria, which will imply that is IS Sangria - the true product. That's for us grammar nerds.

The process for making sangria (with the small "s") is rather simple. You basically have wine, a sweetener, another type of alcohol (or not) and fruit. You very often have a sparkling liquid, like champagne (small "c") or soda.

This is my own version in honor of the Fourth of July.

Feel free to doll it up, however you like, with the suggestions that follow.

My wine corner.

I heard that Kirkland brand vodka is
made by Grey Goose.
Any truth to that?

Mia Sangra del Cuartro del Julio*

Juices of (1) each: Lemon, Lime, and an Orange

1.5 cups of rum or vodka

1 bottle (or collected amount of) red wine

1/4 cup pre-sweetened strawberry lemonade mix

1 pint (or thereabouts)of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries

7-Up or Sprite to taste (add before serving)

Finished product.

Stir together in a large container and keep in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or even up to a couple of days. When you add the 7-Up just before serving, it adds more sweetness and sparkle, plus it replaces some of the liquid which will inevitably be absorbed by the fruit.

Sangria is typically served with a spoon, to ensure that the fruit is eaten as well. Some people remove the fruit and throw it away or - as I would suggest - compost it. You can also take the soaked fruit, freeze it, and later make a fruit compote or fruit sauce for a dessert. Double bonus!

Other possible additions or variations:

Carbonated seltzer water

White wine or champagne instead of red wine - which in this case, would make it sangria blanca

Oranges and lemon slices

Mint leaves

Lavender

Honey or Sugar for the sweetner part

*How's that Spanish? Hope I got it right!

My husband saved the ash from the 80s Mt. Helen's eruption. That's him, with his mom at Stonehenge. I am so jealous. That's my daughter's owl - her Christmas present to her brother - who loves owls, birds - which ended up here and I think it is just right. That's a kukui nut lei, which is a popular item to give and to wear in Hawaii.

Here now!

Cheap and Easy: Recipes for the Broke and Tiredvia Kindle on AmazonEasy basic cooking skills and frugally driven recipes that work as needed inspiration after soccer practice or as a daily tool. Plus, some sympathetic stories of how I get my children to eat more vegetables.&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

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I think it's more than a trend. I think it's a sensitivity to a food security crisis that we have in our world. I don't like waste, particularly food waste. It's horrific that statistics suggest we have enough food to diminish world food insecurity, but due to politics, infrastructure issues and corporate policies, food isn't getting onto the tables of our neediest people. Whenever possible, I try to donate extra food and/or canned goods to our local meals program. If you haven't thought about it, that's okay, but maybe think about it now, and see if you, too, can give back to your local community's food programs. Just a little bit is still helpful.